Marhinki : Contact
by TheAspiringAuthors
Summary: A Marhinki Fic. Mari x Sohinki, possibly other Smosh Games ships to come in later chapters, but primarily Marhinki.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Maricraft

"Mari, Mari! No, you just killed me!" Whined Sohinki, guest-starring on this weeks edition of Mari-craft.

"It was an accident!" Mari yelled back, laughing, as a mob of cuddly cats ran around where Sohinki had just been standing a few moments ago.

"Stop spawning your stupid-ass cats," Sohinki grumbled, now on a mission to kill Mari in revenge. Seeing this, Mari ran away quickly.

"No, it was an accident! I can't help that they hate you!" But he quickly caught her and killed her. "UGH, Sohinki I f*cking hate you!" She attempted to kill him, breaking through houses and ruining their surroundings to get to him.

"Shut up you two," Lasercorn yelled, "you're ruining Lasercornia, get out!" He ran after them trying to shoot them with his bow and arrow.

"Oops, really?" Mari teased, casually lighting a few of the buildings on fire-Sohinki, seeing this, stopped fighting Mari and joined in.

"NO!" Lasercorn yelled, successfully killing the two and putting out the fire.

"Awh, you're no fun Lasercorn," Mari whined, laughing still.

"Wait, Mari-guess what I found." Sohinki said, sounding very mischievous but completely stoked.

"Oh god," sighed Wes, fearful.

"What?" Mari asked, curious.

"Joven's castle." Replied Sohinki, smugly, sounding almost evil.

"Hahahahah, oh no. Well, Joven's done for." Laughed Wes, "Where is it Sohinki?"

"I'll send you the coordinates."

"Me too!" said Mari.

"And to me as well!" Yelled Lasercorn, eager to burn down someone else's home for once.

"Well, as much as I'd love to burn the castle to the ground," laughed Sohinki, "we're gonna have to wait until the next episode for that!"

The gang finished shooting and turned off the cameras, sighing and stretching after a few long hours of being hunched over at their desks. They got up and grabbed all of their stuff, planning to go out to eat at a nearby Chinese place down the street, since they'd been shooting a later night Maricraft. As they were walking out the door, Lasercorn stopped to answer his phone.

"Hello?...Oh...No, it's okay, I'll be home soon, okay?...Yeah. No don't worry about it. Are you okay? ...Okay, I'll be home in a few." He hung up and looked at his phone worriedly for a moment.

"Is everything alright?" Mari asked, concerned.

"Yeah..." Lasercorn said, "I...uh...well, there's sort of a problem at home, Brina doesn't want me to talk about it a lot but I really need to get home fast..." he started to walk out and stopped short, "Sh*t, she drove me today cause my car's at the shop..."

"It's okay, I can drive you," Wes volunteered.

"Are you sure?" Lasercorn asked gratefully.

"Yeah!" Wes said, trying to be supportive.

"Me and Sohinki can come too," Mari offered, wanting to be encouraging.

"No, guys, thanks...it'd really be best if it was just me and not a crowd. Brina really just needs to talk to me... seriously go eat. Wes can catch up with you after maybe." Lasercorn said, sounding melancholic and giving Wes an apologetic look.

"Don't worry about it Lasercorn, but let's get you home." Wes said, smiling. "Bye Mari, bye Sohinki, I'll call to give you an update."

"Okay...thanks Wes." Mari said, "We're here for you Lasercorn." She hugged him quickly.

"I hope everything's alright, man." Sohinki said, touching Lasercorn's shoulder. Lasercorn thanked them and said goodbye and with that, he and Wes left. Mari and Sohinki stood around for a moment, unsure what to do before Sohinki snapped out of it.

"Let's go Mari, it won't do us any good to just sit around here, and plus Wes might wanna meet up again soon," He said, trying to convince himself.

"I just hope everything is okay," Mari said, looking doubtful. Sohinki put a comforting arm around her shoulders and hugged her gently to his side as they walked out.

"It will be, I'm completely sure of it," he responded, not sounding completely sure, but still his words helped Mari a little. She put her arm around his waist and they walked out to his car before separating. They were just extremely close, and physical contact was normal for them, especially when trying to reassure each other. It was weird for them to see their friend so frazzled and worried about something when he was usually always goofy and joking around...it scared them. But they got into the car and Sohinki tried to take their minds off of it by asking Mari to choose the music. She was too distracted though, and eventually just put on some random radio station and sat silently staring out the windshield. He left the parking garage and started driving to their beloved restaurant, and they were almost there before Mari broke the silence.

"Hey Sohinki?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"Wanna know what's weird?"

"What's that?" he asked, smiling, because he was sure she was going to say something silly or cute, or funny, because she was Mari and those were like her three settings.

"Lasercorn is freaking married. Like what? And like yeah I'm in a serious relationship but he's freaking married." Sohinki blinked, completely not expecting that answer.

"Well..yeah," he replied, unsure what the issue was. "He has been for a while now."

"But like, that's so much responsibility. How does he know he wants to be with her for the rest of his life? Like how can he tell that it's right? It's f**king terrifying! Marriage is a huge-ass deal!" Mari almost yelled, exasperated, and slumped down in her seat, looking out the window. Sohinki pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant and parked the car. There was a long moment of silence where Sohinki was digesting what she had just said.

"Mari..." he said, looking at her as she still pouted, silently staring at the sky. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. Besides the fact that one of our best friends is having some family emergency that we know nothing about." She snapped, sounding horribly bitter. Sohinki looked at her for another moment, knowing that something else had to be bothering her when he noticed an eyelash on her cheek.

"Mari, look at me." He said softly.

"Why?"

"Just 'cause."

"Hm." She didn't move.

"Mari. Come on." He said, in more of a pleading voice. She groaned and turned towards him.

"What?" she asked, impatiently.

"You have an eyelash on your cheek," he answered, gently picking it up and holding it out. When she just sat there staring at him he laughed softly and explained, "You gotta blow it away and make a wish." He smiled at her, waiting for her to do so and he looked so genuinely enthusiastic about it that she did without a complaint. They sat together in silence for a minute, Sohinki's hand falling down to pat the back of her's a couple times-somewhat awkwardly but still endearingly. There was another long silence in which Mari looked up at him and smiled briefly before turning back to her window. "What else is bothering you, Mari?" he asked, very concerned for her. She sighed and sat up, turning to face him, but looking down at her hands.

"It's just...I'm not ready for things like marriage. I'm just not-I don't know if I ever will be. It scares me so much and I don't think...I just don't know if it's the right..." She trailed off, looking away from him. He noticed that her eyes became watery and he looked away out of respect-not wanting her to feel embarrassed. He did however, reach into a compartment where he had tissues and handed one to her. She laughed a little, sniffled, and thanked him.

"Mari," he said, wanting to make her feel better, "you don't have to tell me anything, but if you need to talk, I'm always here for you, okay?" She nodded and looked down, scratching the back of her head before attempting to smile, eyes still somewhat teary.

"Thanks Sohinki. I think...I think I do need to talk. I've been hiding something from everyone...And I've been avoiding it completely...It's getting almost unhealthy...It's just um...Well, I went out with Peter the other night and uh...he took me to this really nice restaurant and I think he's so amazing and wonderful and everything but uh..." She trailed off again, looking down in embarrassment.

"It's okay Mari, I won't judge you for anything. But if he hurt you, I might have to kill him."

"No, no, it's nothing like that," she laughed, gently whacking him on the shoulder, "And I could beat him up myself thank you very much." They both laughed at the thought and joked around for a few moments before Mari returned to her somewhat gloomy mood. She cleared her throat and blew her nose and they sat in silence again before Mari continued. "So basically...um what happened is uh...he _proposed_ to me." That caught Sohinki completely by surprise-he felt his stomach drop to the floor. He knew he should've seen it coming, but holy f*ck, this soon? What? He didn't know how to react.

"Oh." he said lamely, his voice cracking slightly, causing Mari to look up. "That's um...wow." He finished, unable to complete a coherent thought.

"Yeah," she agreed, "Right?" She laughed a little at herself and at him, but quickly slumped back into her melancholic gloom.

"Well uh..." Sohinki prompted, "What'd you say?" Completely defeated, Mari dropped her head in her hands.

"I didn't...ugh...I sat there saying nothing like a complete doofus," She looked up at Sohinki, "it was so awful. He looked so happy and sincere and kind and I just sat there with my mouth hanging open for about five minutes. And then he awkwardly got up from his stupid knee and sat back down and I apologized like a million times and told him I just needed to think."

"Holy sh*t." Sohinki said without thinking, scratching his head.

"Yeah, I know...It was so bad. How the f*ck did Lasercorn get married? I don't get it. How do you know? Like I f*cking love Peter, but seriously, marriage? How the h*ll am I supposed to know that I'll love him forever, like what the actual f*ck?"

"Jesus Christ, I don't know, Mari...I'm sorry." He touched her shoulder and she sighed and looked away.

"It's okay," she answered, trying to smile, "I'm just scared to go home. It was a couple weeks ago...and things have been so bad since, I haven't wanted to be around him...especially the past few days... I got away with spending last night with my family but tonight that won't work..." She looked up at him, almost pleading.

"Mari... I know it seems impossible, but you need to go home and face him. Talk things out." Everything inside Sohinki screamed at him to just invite Mari over for the night, but the better half of him knew it wasn't what was best for her. She sighed heavily, turning away from him and a long beat of silence followed.

"Sohinki...I think I'm gonna leave him." She said softly, looking at him for support. He looked back at her in shock, unsure of what to do.

"Mari...Are you sure? You guys have been together for so long-"

"Yeah, we have," she snapped, cutting him off, "and it's the same thing day after day. I f*cking love him-but this can't be all there is. I can't spend my life like this, not with him. It just doesn't feel right...it feels forced, like...I _feel_ like I should love him more but in reality...I don't think I really and truly do..." She let her head fall into her hands and started to cry-her shoulders shaking. She felt so hopeless and confused, she didn't want to hurt Peter but she didn't know what to do. Sohinki hugged her to him-somewhat awkwardly because they were still in the car, but it worked in calming her down. He handed her a few more tissues, still hugging her and gently stroking her hair. Finally she sat up and looked at him, attempting to smile.

"You can stay with me for a little while," He said comfortingly, "for as long as you need. But I'm not gonna let you just run away forever Mari, you gotta face him eventually," a look of worry consumed her and Sohinki quickly added, "but tonight isn't that time." She nodded gratefully, wiping the remaining tears from her cheeks.

"If we stop by my place now, he shouldn't be home from work yet and I can grab some clothes and leave him a note." Mari said and Sohinki nodded, and started to drive away, towards Mari's. He was overjoyed that his best friend would be crashing at his house, but his heart ached for her pain and even a little for Peter. Not to mention he was still consumed with worry for Lasercorn. All in all, tonight wasn't the most peaceful night for the Smosh Gamers, but hopefully it'd end soon enough, and Sohinki and Mari were in desperate need of some food.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Sohinki was waiting for Mari in her driveway while she ran in to get her things. He was stressed out to say the least—so he actually enjoyed being alone for the moment. He loved his friends, but he was not used to dealing with the problems they had. It wasn't that he didn't care; he just had no experience dealing with any issues like theirs. He hadn't even had a relationship serious enough to have issues—they usually started peacefully and ended uneventfully. While he was contemplating whether or not that made him a loser, he got a call from Wes.

"Hello?" He said eagerly, anxious to here what was going on.

"Hey Sohinki, it's Wes."

"What's going on?" Sohinki asked quickly, painfully curious about Lasercorn. He wanted to just hear that everything was fine so that he could go back to his happily boring life.

"Well…" Wes sighed, exasperation clear in his voice, "Lasercorn said that there's nothing bad going on, but he can't tell us about it yet." Sohinki blinked, processing thought. That had not been what he wanted to hear and it immediately pissed him off.

"That's bullsh*t." Sohinki mumbled. "Why can't he tell his closest friends? What the f*ck kind of situation was he in?" There was a long silence before he heard Wes sigh and he felt guilty for getting irritated. "Sorry Wes, I… I didn't mean that, I'm just a little stressed." He paused again because he knew that Wes was probably in the same boat as him. He tried to lighten things up, for Wes' sake. "But I guess there's no real reason to worry now."

"Yeah… yeah, exactly." Wes replied, sounding like he was trying to convince himself more than Sohinki. "He'll probably tell us by tomorrow or something." Neither of them believed it though, and their worrying didn't let up in the slightest.

"Yeah…" Sohinki agreed unenthusiastically, noticing that Mari was heading towards the car. "Hey Wes, by the way we ditched the restaurant, but you could come to my place, me and Mari were just gonna order a pizza." Mari got in the car and saw that he was on the phone. She excitedly mouthed, "Wes?" He nodded and held up his pointer finger, telling her to wait.

"Thanks Sohinki, but I'm really tired so I think I'm just gonna head home. I'll see you guys tomorrow though."

"Okay Wes, thanks. Bye." He hung up the phone and put it in his pocket as Mari threw her duffel bag into the backseat. She plopped down in her seat and buckled in, hugging her pillow to her chest.

"So, what'd Wes say?" She asked anxiously. Sohinki started the car and pulled out onto the road, sighing.

"Apparently, Lasercorn said that everything is alright…" He trailed off and Mari looked at him, wanting him to go on. "But he can't tell us what's going on yet." Mari paused, a look of confusion crossing her face as she digested what he was saying. However, she quickly snapped out of that confusion.

"What? That's f**king bullsh*t!" She exclaimed, sitting up and pushing her pillow away. Sohinki couldn't keep a straight face because of how similar their reactions were, but Mari was not pleased when she noticed. "It's f**king ridiculous that he can't tell his friends, and it's not funny Sohinki, like f*cking seriously—"

"Mari, calm down." He said, touching her leg, "I'm only laughing because I just said the same thing to Wes. Pretty much word for word." He patted her leg and put his hand back on the wheel.

"Oh…" Mari said. She sat back in her seat sighing, bringing a hand up to rub her forehead. "Sorry, I'm just really worried I guess…" She trailed off looking away. There was a long silence while she stared out the window away from him. Eventually Sohinki smiled a little sadly at her, reaching over to gently rub her shoulder.

"Hey, it's a really hard time right now… You have every right to feel what you feel. You're actually impressing me a ton with how you're handling all this." He turned back to the road so he didn't notice when she looked at him and smiled, her eyes just a little red.

"What can I say?" She murmured, and he could tell from the tone of her voice that she was smiling, "I'm just a people pleaser." They both laughed a little and she hugged her pillow to her chest again. "No but really, thanks Sohinki—for everything." He nodded and shrugged and she gave him a playful little shove on the shoulder.

"Hey, hey!" He laughed, "Driving here!" He shook his head, smiling and for a second everything felt like it was back to normal again.

A few minutes later they pulled up to Sohinki's house—it was a nice place, not too big or small, but in a nice enough neighborhood. Mari had been there millions of times before, enough that it almost felt like a second home, but nonetheless it was still a little weird to be thinking that she'd be staying here. But she kind of loved the idea—she'd get to spend days with her best friend, away from all the problems in her life. It was everything she needed.

Sohinki parked the car and reached into the backseat, grabbing Mari's things.

"Hey, no I can get it!" She protested, whacking him gently on the arm. "I'm a strong, independent woman." She insisted, pushing up her sleeve and motioning to her bicep. Sohinki laughed and rolled his eyes.

"While I don't doubt that in the slightest," He said cautiously while she raised an eyebrow at him, "I simply _want_ to carry these things in—it has nothing to do with you." He then reached back and grabbed her bags, getting out of the car before she could protest further.

"Well, fine." She sighed, trying to pout still but unable to keep from smiling, "Thanks."

"Mmhm." He answered, as she took her pillow and motioned for her to go inside. He showed her where the living room and bathrooms and everything was, even though he knew she knew—he just felt like he should as her host. While she went to the bathroom, he ran to his room to tidy it up. He mentally cursed himself for not being neater. It wasn't that he was messy, he just wasn't expecting anyone and he especially wanted everything to be perfect for her—what with all that was happening. He cleaned up and headed back to the living room, where she was sitting on the couch on her phone. He plopped down next to her.

"Hey, thanks for lending me your couch," she said, pulling her knees to her chest, "it's really cozy." He looked at her for a second, then realized what she meant.

"Oh, no Mari, you can stay in my room. Here come on I'll show you where it is." He said, getting up from the couch.

"Wait, no I can't. It's enough that I'm staying here, I can't take your room too." She protested, standing up too. He raised his eyebrows.

"Mari, honestly, I want you to. You need to get some sleep and just rest for a few days. Come on, please?" She shook her head, and crossed her arms stubbornly. He shook his head and laughed, "Well, how about this: I'm not sleeping in my room, so if you sleep out here, I'll sleep on the floor."

"Sohinki." She said, frustrated, dropping her arms to her side. "That's so unfair." He shrugged, and crossed his arms, mimicking what she had done. She noticed and glared at him. He smiled brightly at her, knowing he'd won the argument.

"Come on, I'll show you where it is." He said, walking towards it, knowing she'd given in. She sighed but followed him. His room was plainer than she expected—she thought there would be action figures and Legos and that sort of stuff everywhere. She knew he was an adult and everything but she still expected him to at least have like posters up. But no, the walls were a plain blue and he just had simple furniture except for his computer with like five giant monitors—but that was the life of a Youtuber. She'd never been in there, this entire time she'd known him, it'd never really occurred to her because she just didn't have a reason to be. But it was nice and at least his bed looked really comfortable.

"It's really nice," She said, looking around still. He half smiled at her and nodded towards the door.

"Come on, lets go order some food, I'm starving."

Mari sat on the couch while Sohinki got pizza, lazily going through the various channels.

"Is cheese okay?" He called out from the kitchen, poking his head out from the doorway.

"Yeah!" She answered excitedly, her stomach growling. They hadn't eaten since eleven and it was now almost eight. She felt like she could eat twenty pizzas, but knowing Sohinki she knew he'd probably get five pizzas just for the two of them. She heard him get off the phone and he walked into the living room.

"Sohinkiiiiii" she called out, groaning a little, slumping down into the couch.

"What?" He asked, smiling at her pouting and walked over to sit down next to her.

"There's nothing good on TV," she complained, giving him the remote. He rolled his eyes and sat back, flipping through the channels. She leaned against his shoulder, scrolling on Instagram on her phone. He nudged her and she looked up at the TV.

"Look what's on." He said, smiling. "The Conjuring" had just started, and knowing that Mari hated scary movies, Sohinki was just teasing her with it. He, Wes, and Lasercorn had planned to take Mari to go see it, but she ended up just being too scared, so they'd gone to see something else. He expected Mari to yell at him to change it, but she just laughed.

"Let's watch it." She said, grabbing one of the blankets off the back of the couch and throwing it around her shoulders. She shut off her phone and put it down, looking at the TV.

"No, I was just kidding," Sohinki said, not wanting her to be scared, "it's pretty scary and you'd hate it…" She bumped her shoulder into his and rolled her eyes.

"I'm _fine_ Sohinki, honestly it's just a movie. " She looked at him and playfully winked, "I bet I'll be way less scared than you."

"Oh, is that right?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. He was always up for a challenge and she knew it. "Alright then, let's watch." She smiled at him and he shook his head, unable to keep a smile off of his face. She always knew exactly how to get to him and he hated it. Or at least he liked to make it seem that way. She quickly grabbed the remote out of his hand. "Hey!" he said, reaching back for it.

"Just turning up the volume," she giggled, holding it away from him. He was still struggling to get it back, leaning towards her while she held out an arm to keep him away. Knowing he'd get the remote, she quickly tossed it over her shoulder and started tickling his stomach.

"Quit it!" He yelled, trying to get away, unable to stop laughing. She laughed and continued to tickle him, making him fall onto his back.

"Never!" She shouted, practically on top of him, tickling him. She could see him trying not to laugh but she knew she was in trouble though when she saw a mischievous look in his eye. He suddenly started tickling her back and the arm holding her up gave out. She fell heavily onto him, both of them laughing and a little out of breath. She stayed there for a moment, before giving him a hug—well the best she could manage while they were both awkwardly on the couch.

"Thanks Sohinki, for everything." She said, closing her eyes and squeezing him around the waist with her arms. Not knowing what to do or say, Sohinki awkwardly patted her hair, playing with it a little bit. She smiled and looked up at him and he smiled back, and they sat there for a moment, comfortably. Mari forgot for a little while what was happening in her life and was able to just enjoy the company of her close friend. They were always so silly together, and she loved it, but it was nice just to relax too. On the other hand, Sohinki felt somewhat…weird. He loved that he could be there for Mari when she needed it, and he was comfortable enough to fall asleep—but he just wasn't used to things like this with her. They were like _cuddling_. Needless to say, he didn't usually cuddle with her or any of his other friends. He tried not to think about it though, and turned his head towards the TV, just trying to enjoy the moment. The movie had started while they'd had their tickle fight. They stayed like that for about 10 minutes, Mari already started to jump a little, and burying her face in his chest. They laughed when she got scared, and Sohinki threw a blanket over the two of them. They only got up when the pizza guy rang the doorbell.

Two full pizzas and one horror movie later, they were both falling asleep. It was around midnight, and although that wasn't too late for them usually, it'd been a long day. Sohinki nudged Mari, who was sleepily cuddled into a blanket at the other end of the couch.

"Hey, Mari. C'mon, let's get ya to bed." He stood up, stretching.

"Hmmm no, it'll be cold there." She complained, trying to snuggle further into the couch.

"Mari, it'll be more comfy." He said, not wanting her to have a bad nights sleep on the couch. She needed her rest what with all that was going on. He went over to her and rubbed her shoulder gently. "Come on," he said sweetly. Finally she gave in and started to get up, wrapping the blanket around her shoulders. Sohinki put his arm around her to keep her warm and walked her to his bedroom. He got the bed ready for her and she watched him sleepily. Finally he told her to get in and she climbed in, only complaining a little about the cold. He tucked her in, and told her goodnight and before he thought about it, he leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. Immediately he wondered why he did that—it was just weird, people didn't do that. But he figured Mari would be too tired to care though, so he just said goodnight again awkwardly. He left, leaving the door open so that she could see into the living room where he was in case she got nightmares from the movie. Fatigue suddenly hit him hard and he trudged out to the living room, toppling onto the couch and pretty much instantly falling asleep.

Mari had initially been dead tired, but when she got into Sohinki's bed, her tiredness completely disappeared. First of all, that freaking scary movie was now making her paranoid and jumpy of every sound. And his furnace was f*cking loud—she almost screamed the first time it turned on. But besides that, he really uncomfortably said goodnight to her by kissing her forehead. The last time someone did that was her mom when she was probably like eleven. Not that she didn't find it sweet… She found it overwhelmingly sweet actually. She wasn't used to him being so caring and kind, but it did make her extremely happy. The thing that was keeping her up the most though was the whole Peter problem. She couldn't help but think that she was an awful person for avoiding him and running away. But she couldn't face him—it made her feel sick to even think about it.

She just about drove herself crazy thinking about Peter and worrying about Lasercorn, so Mari finally sat up and got out of bed. She glanced at the clock, it read "3:24 AM" and she sighed. Sohinki would definitely be asleep, but she just didn't want to be alone. She walked out to the couch and saw Sohinki asleep, sprawled out across it. She sat down next to his head, not wanting to wake him up, just wanting to have someone with her. Unfortunately she didn't succeed.

"Mari…?" Sohinki murmured, slowly lifting his head up and looking around.

"Yeah it's me, sorry," she replied, feeling guilty. He looked up at her and looked around, like he was trying to remember what was going on. It took a second but then the past day came back to his mind and he sat up quickly.

"Is everything alright? Are you okay?" He asked quickly. He instinctively sat up and got closer to her, like he was literally looking to see if she was alright.

"Yeah, I'm fine Sohinki, really." She said, trying to laugh it off, but it came out bitter. She mentally cursed herself—what the f*ck was she even doing, waking up her friend who gave up his freaking bed for her. She felt selfish and gross and almost sick.

"Mari, what's going on?" Sohinki said, concern filling his voice. He gently and tentatively put his arm around her shoulders, hugging her to him a little. "You can talk to me about anything." He said softly, rubbing her shoulder. She looked up at him and he looked so genuinely concerned that she turned her face into his neck, embarrassed. Finally she sighed and sat up.

"Can I ask you something?" She said softly, not looking up to meet his eyes.

"Sure," he answered, confused but trying to cover his concern. He wasn't doing a very good job.

"Am I a bad person?" She asked slowly, as if she was trying to word it correctly. "Or like a bad friend? Basically am I just not good?" Sohinki blinked, confused, he didn't expect her to ask him something like that. He thought she was scared from the movie or just sad, but not this kind of sad. But also what kind of question was that? Was Mari a bad person? F*ck no! She was probably the best person he knew, the best person he'd ever met…

"Mari, I don't know where you'd get an idea like that, but God no you're not a bad person." He saw her about to protest and he cut her off. "Mari, you're everything people strive to be—you're kind, you're caring, you're smart, you're sexy, you're everything a person _should _be. It's almost unfair how good of a person you are." He took a moment to think and shook his head, "And that's not even it Mari, you do good things, you f*cking care about everything you do, you're passionate, you wanna help others, like god*ammit you're the perfect person and you don't even know it!" They sat there silently for a moment, taking in everything he had just said. He wondered if he'd said too much, or the wrong things, but he'd meant every bit of it. They were completely still except when he noticed that she was shivering and he reached over and grabbed a blanket, placing it on her shoulders. He then took her and hand and gently rubbed the back of it absent-mindedly. Mari's eyes filled with tears and she just shook her head and looked down.

"What'd I do to deserve you?" She asked, her voice shaking, unable to make eye contact with him. He looked at her and put a hand up to her cheek, gently wiping tears away. He cradled her face in his palm and she finally looked up at him and smiled, her eyes still red and sad. He smiled back a little and they sat there for a moment before he pulled her to him, hugging her tightly.

"You're gonna get through this, okay? And I'm gonna be here with you through the entire thing." She nodded into his shoulder and he smiled. "And I promise, no more scary movies for a while." She laughed then, and pulled away. She gave him a little playful shove on the shoulder.

"Pshh, I was barely even scared," she laughed, flipping her hair over her shoulder. He laughed too, so relieved that she seemed like she was starting to feel better. She looked at him and quickly on impulse, leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. He blinked, somewhat shocked, but immediately glowing internally. "Thanks Sohinki, I… I don't think I can ever make all of this up to you." She said, looking down, rubbing the back of her head. If the lighting were better he could've sworn she was blushing, but he was glad it was dark because he knew he was too.

"Hey, that's what friends are for, right?" He answered, trying to laugh off the warm feeling in the pit of his stomach. It wasn't working. He felt all tingly, but tried to ignore it as best he could. "Do you wanna sleep out here too?" He asked, trying to keep everything good and happy. She nodded and just as he was about to get up to sleep on the floor, she cuddled into him so that they were lying down with his arm around her. He felt somewhat weird about it—but he figured that she just needed someone, _anyone_ right now and he was willing to be that person she needed. Plus, it was so comfortable that he fell asleep before he could think of any reasons not to.


	3. Chapter 3

Marhinki: Contact

Chapter Three

Mari woke up to light filtering through the window above the couch. She smiled, cuddling further into her pillow and pulling her blanket around her—feeling well rested for once. But she only enjoyed her sleepy euphoria for about 10 seconds before she remembered the events of the past few days. She blinked a few times, the peaceful calm in her stomach being replaced with a deep pit of stress. She groaned, sitting up a little and realized she was alone. Sohinki must've gotten up before her, and just as she was thinking that, she heard him whistling from the kitchen, probably making breakfast. She leaned over towards the coffee table to grab her phone, which was now charging-Sohinki must've plugged it in for her. She grabbed her phone and sighed. She didn't know what she did to deserve a friend like him; he was just so completely good and sweet. It almost annoyed her because she didn't know how she could ever pay him back for being such an awesome friend. She checked the time, "10:23". D*mn, she'd slept late, no wonder she felt so well rested. Sohinki then attempted to sing along to the music he'd been listening to and Mari smiled and sat up, slowly walking towards the kitchen so he wouldn't hear her. She leaned against the doorway and watched him singing and dancing around the kitchen.

"Hot d*mn," she said, grinning. He jumped, almost dropping the pan he was holding, but recovered quickly and cleared his throat. Mari couldn't stop herself from doubling over, laughing.

"G-good morning," he said, running a hand through his hair, trying to salvage whatever dignity he had left. "Scrambled eggs?" He held out the pan towards her, his voice breaking slightly. Her stomach growled and she smiled.

"Oh my god yes." She answered eagerly, still smiling. "But I doubt they'll be better than that concert I just got to see." He blushed and laughed, embarrassed.

"I'm thinking of leaving my Youtube career to be a professional singer, actually." He laughed, serving eggs up onto two plates.

"Yeah, I think you missed your calling with video games," she replied, "Opera Singer is right up your alley."

"Oh, is that right?" He said, bringing the plates over to his dining table. He pulled out a chair for her and she walked over and sat.

"Mhmm," She answered, smiling brightly at him. He handed her a fork and gave her coffee and they sat down to eat. She'd forgotten how good he was at cooking—even freaking scrambled eggs. She knew they were almost impossible to mess up but he made them seem like a stupid gourmet meal. Everything he did was just so nice, and she never really noticed it that much until now. She started eating the eggs quickly.

"Woah, slow down there, you'll get sick," Sohinki laughed, sipping his coffee.

"But it's SO good," Mari groaned, sitting back. But she did slow down, figuring he was probably right. "How do you know how to cook so well? Every time I try I practically burn my house down." She reached for her coffee and pulled her legs up onto her chair, sitting criss-crossed.

"I don't know," he shrugged, and then smiled at her, "I mean, it's true art, mastery, you'd have to be an expert like me to understand." He took a bite and looked at her smugly. Mari rolled her eyes.

"Oh, really?" She asked.

"It takes years of practice." He answered, and laughed a little, "But maybe tomorrow I can attempt to show you how to make the best chocolate chip pancakes in the world."

"Are you sure I'd be able to handle that?" She asked, her voice filled with sarcasm.

"I mean I can try," he replied, "no promises though." They laughed and there was a moment of silence when Sohinki took another swig of coffee. Mari realized that he had essentially just invited her to stay another night. Not that she didn't love being at his house, but she felt bad about staying—she didn't want to be annoying. But she felt awkward asking him about it. She decided it was too much to think about and tried to push anything that wasn't happening at that moment out of her mind. They talked more and finished up breakfast.

A couple hours later, they'd both gotten dressed and ready for the day because they had to go into the office. Wes had called Sohinki, saying Lasercorn couldn't make it in today but would probably be back tomorrow. Sohinki wasn't worried, or at least he had convinced Mari he wasn't, but Mari was unable to contain how worried she was.

"I just don't fucking get it," She murmured, while trying to braid her hair. Sohinki sighed and shrugged and Mari gave up with her hair and just threw it into a ponytail. She sighed and sat down on the couch, rubbing her temples. Sohinki plopped down next to her.

"Hey," he said, bumping his shoulder against hers, "everything's gonna be okay, alright?" She looked at him, annoyed.

"Sohinki, you don't know that! Ugh, why the f*ck are you so calm?" She said exasperatedly, crossing her arms and leaning back into the couch.

"'Cause getting worked up about it doesn't help anything." He answered, patting her knee. She rolled her eyes and pulled her knees to her chest, annoyed at how he'd suddenly become so "all-knowing" and philosophical.

"Being calm doesn't either." She snapped, moving her knee away from his hand. She irritatedly looked away for a second and noticed the blanket she'd used last night was on the ground. She picked it up and sighed, immediately feeling guilty for snapping at him. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm just stressed…nothing's going right. I couldn't even get my damn hair right," She laughed, not really caring but wanting to lighten up the situation. "I just want things to be back to normal." She sighed, resting her chin on her hand. He looked at her, trying to smile but feeling troubled.

"You know, you can go back home," he said carefully, wanting to say everything just the right way, "I mean you can stay as long as you need, but I don't want you to feel obligated to stay. You can go back and have everything go back to normal with Peter—"

"No, no Sohinki," she interrupted quickly, "that's not what I meant. I just mean with Lasercorn and…I don't really know what else I meant. I just want things to feel less stressful I guess." She paused, looking at her hands. She took a deep breath and looked up at him, "But no, I don't wanna leave at all. I just really like being here with you." He smiled at her and she returned it.

"Well then, you're welcome for as long as you want." Just then he looked down and saw his phone on the table. "Shit, we gotta go, we're late!" They stood up quickly and ran out to his car, laughing. They knew that being late wasn't a huge deal, but

they were supposed to be there five minutes ago.

When they finally got there, they encountered a somewhat pissy Jovenshire. Sohinki quickly looked at Mari and they exchanged a look of "oops".

"Where've you guys been? We were supposed to start GTS like twenty minutes ago." Joven asked, pushing his glasses up.

"Sorry Joven, we just got stuck in traffic." Sohinki answered, taking off his jacket and sitting down at his computer.

"Sorry Jovie." Mari said, logging on to her computer and putting her bag down. Joven stood by the door still for a second, and Mari could practically see the gears turning in his head as he thought. She looked at him, eyebrows raised. "What is it?" She asked.

"Nothing." He said walking towards his desk. Sohinki raised an eyebrow, knowing he wouldn't just stop there. He stopped walking then and turned back towards them. "Okay it's just—" Sohinki groaned, annoyed. Joven ignored him. "It's just why did you come together?" Mari blinked, she hadn't thought about that seeming weird. There was a brief pause and Sohinki looked at Mari, unsure of how much she wanted to let other people know.

"Oh, Peter's car wasn't working so he took mine to work," Mari covered quickly, trying to sound convincing. "So I just asked Sohinki to give me a ride since we were going to the same place and all." Sohinki smiled at her and she smiled back and Joven just looked back and forth between them.

"Well, oookay. " He said sounding dissatisfied but sitting down. Sohinki rolled his eyes and Mari giggled a little. They could tell Joven was suspicious but they were saved by Wes walking in the door, carrying a plastic bag.

"So you guys finally showed up," Wes said plopping down into his chair and logging onto his computer.

"Well, look who's talking! Where were you?" Mari retorted playfully, leaning over her desk and resting her chin on her hand. Wes looked at her and grinned.

"So I take it you don't want the food I brought you guys?" He said, lifting the plastic bag. Mari instantly perked up and went over to Wes. He opened up the bag and showed her what he had brought.

"Yes! Fries," Mari said happily and Wes grinned at her, handing them to her. She thanked him and went back over to her desk and curled up in her chair.

"Sohinki?" Wes asked, offering him some food.

"No thanks, we—um, I just ate." Sohinki said, trying to sound normal and nonchalant and quickly put his headphones on to avoid further conversation. "Lets get started."

"Someone's eager to start," said Wes, but let it go, putting his own headphones on. Joven looked at Sohinki, still suspicious.

"How're you liking your pink cars, Jovie?" Mari asked, trying to distract him and get started on the GTS episode.

"They're growing on me. I AM THE PINK PANTHER!" Joven yelled, getting into his car and driving around. The rest of them all groaned together.

"Please let this not become a thing." Wes said.

"Make this a thing!" Joven said to the camera, "Start #Jovenisthepinkpanther!"

"Oh god," Mari laughed.

"No one start that." Sohinki said, pointing his finger at the camera. Wes leaned into the back of Sohinki's camera frame and mimicked his serious pointing. They messed around on GTA for a while and eventually finished filming. They all got up and grabbed their things and decided to go out to lunch. As they were walking out to Joven's car, Mari searched through her purse.

"You've been looking in there for like an hour Mari," Wes said curiously. She finally stopped and zipped it up, pouting.

"I left my wallet at Soh—home." She said, crossing her arms and hoping that she covered herself. She got a weird look from Joven but Sohinki looked at her and smiled.

"Hey it's fine, I can spot you." He offered. She immediately perked up.

"No, are you sure?" She asked, not wanting to take more from him but was seriously hungry. He nodded and shrugged, he didn't think it was a big deal. "Thanks Sohinki, I'll pay you back!" She gave him a quick hug before she got into the backseat of Joven's car. After a moment Sohinki sat next to her, seeming somewhat out of it. Joven and Wes looked at them and then at each other. Eventually Wes shrugged and they both got in the car. They decided to go to a nearby Taco Bell, just because it was convenient and quick. The entire drive there Sohinki and Mari tried to kick each other in the backseat while Wes watched, half-amused, half-annoyed. If he hadn't noticed that something was going on with them before, Wes totally saw it now. It confused him, just because he could tell that it seemed a bit too friendly. Especially since he knew Mari was with Peter and Sohinki had been with someone else not too long ago… But he decided to not overthink it, and told himself that Mari and Sohinki always act this way—they're just playing around as friends. Still, he couldn't totally convince himself. And he could tell that Joven was annoyed from the way his ears were red and how he was gripping the steering wheel a little too tightly. But they headed out to lunch, and got back to the office without major issues.

When Sohinki and Mari finally made it back to his house, it was around 7 at night. They walked in the house, laughing over the fact that some guy had parked in front of Sohinki's house and he'd had essentially drive over his entire lawn to get into the driveway.

"Excuse me, let me just park my big-ass truck right in front of your driveway, 'cause I'm a douche." Mari said in a deep voice, flexing her muscles. Sohinki laughed and they walked into the house. Sohinki went to get a glass of water.

"Do you want anything to eat?" He asked her, calling from the kitchen.

"I'm fine!" She answered, she knew they were going to get dinner soon. She went over to the couch and plopped down, plugging her phone into the outlet next to it. It had been dead for about three hours, so she'd been disconnected form social media for too long. Immediately when it turned back on she got a notification. "SIX MISSED CALLS FROM: Peter". She groaned and put her phone face down on the coffee table. She hadn't thought about him all day and now stress was bubbling up again in her stomach. She leaned forward, her elbows on her knees and put her head in her hands.

"Wait Mari, remember when Joven—" Sohinki started, walking out of the kitchen. He stopped, looking at the way she was sitting. He went over and sat next to her. There was a brief pause because he didn't know what to do. Finally he gently put his arm around her waist. "Are you alright?" He asked sweetly, his voice so sincere it made Mari want to hug him. But she just shook her head a little and leaned her head on his shoulder. He felt dumb for asking, but he just wanted her to feel better. He stroked the back of her head a little and her hair was really soft. He sighed and pulled her a little closer. She looked up at him and they looked at each other for a few moments before Mari awkwardly bit her lip and looked down. She buried her face in his chest, wanting everything to just be okay. He rubbed her back gently in circular motions. He hated that she was upset but he loved that she was here with him. He wanted to hold her tighter, to get rid of all her pain, to gently lift her chin up and tuck her hair behind her ear… He sighed again and pulled away from her, standing up. He walked a few feet away from the couch, scratching the back of his head. This wasn't right. He wasn't being the friend he needed to be for her. But he couldn't help it. She was making him feel…weird. Granted, he'd noticed it before but never _this_ much. Everything about her was pulling him in and he loved it—but he knew it was wrong, especially when she was so vulnerable.

"Um…is everything okay?" Mari asked, looking at him. She was worried, and was trying to figure out what she did wrong to make him leave. "Did I do something—"

"No. No you didn't I promise…it's just I…" Sohinki started, not sure what to say next. He shook his head and exhaled heavily, turning away from her. He couldn't put what he was feeling into words, every time he tried it sounded too jumbled or cheesy in his head.

"Just what?" Mari asked softly, sitting on the edge of the couch. She was concerned now, she didn't know if she'd done something to upset him or hurt him or if he was just not okay. "I'm sorry."

"Please don't say that." Sohinki groaned, rubbing his forehead. He felt especially guilty now that he saw that he was upsetting Mari. She didn't need more stress and he was creating it. "Look, I'm just really tired and still… still worried about Lasercorn. And I just thought about it randomly and I wonder if he's okay…" He rambled on a little bit, making it up as he went, hoping he was being convincing.

"Oh." Mari said, completely unconvinced—she could tell he was lying from the way the he got really fidgety. But even though she didn't think that Lasercorn was really Sohinki's issue, it made her feel anxious about the situation anyway. "Yeah, I'm worried about him too." She looked down at her hands in her lap and tried to keep herself together. Everything was just going so wrong. There was a long silence as Mari thought about Lasercorn and Sohinki tried to figure out what to do next.

"Hey Mari?" Sohinki said gently, wanting to diffuse the situation.

"Yeah?" She answered, looking up at him, her eyes red.

"I think we're really tired from the last couple of days and should just go to sleep." She looked down at her hands again and nodded slowly but looked uneasy about it. He could tell something was wrong so he walked back over to her and sat on the coffee table in front of her. "What is it?" He asked softly.

"It's just…" She refused to meet his gaze because she felt embarrassed. "It's just I've been having recurring nightmares recently and I don't really wanna go to bed…like last night was fine 'cause you were there but…" He blinked and it took him a moment to figure out that she was asking him to fall asleep with her again. He knew she meant it completely platonically but it made him uncomfortable because he didn't know if it would feel completely platonic to him… But nonetheless, he knew that she needed him so he couldn't bring himself to say no.

"Alright," he sighed, "well you don't have to be alone, I can fall asleep with you out here." Nodding to the couch. Mari then bit her lip and scratched the back of her head.

"I was wondering…" She started, looking up at him slowly, "if maybe we could sleep in your bed?" Sohinki looked up at her, surprised. _What?_ He thought. _This girl is trying to kill me_. She smiled a little at him, "Well it's just that the couch's a little cramped and your bed is huge so…" She trailed off. Sohinki debated it in his head a little. Now he felt extremely uncomfortable because it was one thing to fall asleep with you friend on the couch like they were kids at a sleepover but it was something completely different to fall asleep together in his bed. Half of him knew it was completely wrong and that Mari was probably just not thinking clearly and that he should just firmly say no. But the other half of him told him that it was fine—they were just friends and Mari was just being logical since the bed was bigger. Eventually, the second half won out.

"I think that makes sense." Sohinki said slowly, only making eye contact with her after he said it. They held each other's gazes for a few seconds before Sohinki finally looked down. Mari smiled at him.

"Thanks Sohinki," she murmured, leaning forward to gently touch his knee. She didn't know what she was doing. It was as if she had this part inside of her that allowed her to think about what she was doing and the consequences and she'd just shut it off. After dealing with the stress of the past few days, she just couldn't think anymore, she just wanted to do whatever she wanted. For right now, she just wanted to have fun with her friend because she loved him. She saw no harm in falling asleep together, comfortably in his giant-ass bed. She didn't want to think of anything that could be bad about it, so she didn't.

"No problem," He answered and shrugged, looking down at her hand on his knee. He looked up at her when she pulled her hand away. He felt so…tense. It was normal, he usually felt so loose and comfortable around her. Now, he almost felt nervous, like he was doing something he shouldn't be. He cleared his throat and his stomach growled, extremely loudly. Mari laughed—and God did he love her laugh. It was so contagious, he immediately started to laugh too and suddenly all the tension was gone. He sighed and smiled at her, feeling less awkward, "Do you wanna get some food?" he asked.

"Hell yes." She answered, feeling like she was glowing. He made her so happy and she knew she didn't deserve his kindness, but she loved it anyway. He was everything she needed and wanted and being around him made her so happy… He got up to get his phone from the kitchen to call in food. "Hey Sohinki?" She called out. She felt silly and loose because she was just so damn tired and on the verge of a mental breakdown from stress.

"Yeah?" He answered, poking his head around the doorway from the kitchen.

"You make me _almost_ as happy as food as food makes me." She said, a look of complete seriousness on her face. They paused for a couple of seconds before both breaking out in laughter.

"Jesus Christ Mari, you really are hungry and tired." Sohinki said, trying to control his laughter.

"What can I say?" She answered, leaning back and stretching her arms out across the back of the couch, "I'm the package deal."

"Sounds like it." Sohinki laughed and Mari smiled at him. He disappeared into the kitchen again for about 5 seconds before he reappeared in the doorway. "Hey Mari?"

"What?" She replied, sitting up and rubbing her back.

"You make me _almost_ as happy as Dota makes me." He murmured, copying her total seriousness. They broke out into laughter again to the point where Mari was wiping tears from her eyes.

"That's how you know its true happiness," she said, still somewhat crying from laughter, "If it gets anywhere near Dota." They kept laughing for a while and Sohinki made it over to couch and sat next to her. They found it funnier than they normally would just due to sheer exhaustion and the relief of tension it brought. They finally calmed down enough for Sohinki to order food and to try to find something to watch while they were waiting for food.

"No more scary movies," Sohinki insisted and Mari rolled her eyes, laughing, playing it off that she didn't care. Really she hated the idea of watching a scary movie so she secretly thanked him for being so sweet. Noticing that she had goosebumps all over her legs, he draped a blanket over them and lazily threw his arm over the back of the couch behind Mari. She cuddled into his shoulder a little bit, and he rubbed her arm aimlessly. He told himself that she was just cold, and that friends cuddle all the time, it totally wasn't weird at all.

"Hey Sohinki?" Mari started, just saying what she was thinking without any sort of filter, "I really really lo—" But she was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. "Um I really really love food." She finished slowly and unsurely.

"Well, that's good timing then." Sohinki said smiling, and got up to get the door. Mari stayed seated on the couch, trying to organize her thoughts. She wasn't just about to tell him that she loved him, right? Or even if she was, it was just as friends…right? It had to be, there was nothing between them, it was only friendship. She shook her head, trying to clear her mind and stood up, stretching. She went into the kitchen for a glass of water as Sohinki brought the food in. "Alrighty, let's eat." He said.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: Discomfort

It'd been five days since Mari had first spent the night at Sohinki's house, although to him it felt as if no time had passed at all. It seemed like only minutes ago they had been sitting in his car when he invited her to stay. He could spend hours, days, probably even months with her and still feel like he never saw her enough. He wondered for a moment if that was weird, but eventually just told himself that it was only being a good friend to caring about her. He was worried, however, about her dealing with the whole situation with Peter. They had slept in his room the other night and she had gotten up at around 3 am. She didn't know that this had woken him up, and he didn't want to make her feel bad, so he had just tried to go back to bed, figuring she was just going to the bathroom. But he stayed awake when he heard her go out into the hall and start to murmur.

"…Hey. Yeah, yeah it's me…Yeah, I'm okay, everything's okay. I'm still staying with a friend…what are you doing up…?" She whispered, talking slowly and uncomfortably. He heard her sigh and he felt her secondhand discomfort. "Peter…" She murmured, her tone disapproving or disagreeing or something like that…he couldn't quite place it. He stiffened when he heard her say it, he hadn't meant to, he just suddenly felt warm…almost upset…he didn't really know why. He tried to ignore it and tried to sleep, but couldn't stop himself from listening. "Look," she said more assertively, "I want to talk, and I'm sorry I haven't been too mature about all of this…but I'd like to fix that now. Can we meet for coffee Saturday?" Her tone was formal, stiff, and almost cold. It sounded as if she were making a business transaction. He felt bad for Peter, because sure, maybe they just weren't right for each other, but having the girl you love-especially a girl as amazing a Mari-reject you must be pretty painful. "Alright, I'll text you when and where tomorrow. Thanks, Peter…I'm sorry." He heard her sigh heavily and figure she must've hung up. Instead of coming back to his bed, she walked out to the living room and laid down on the couch. He didn't know whether or not to comfort her or just try to fall asleep again, but he decided that she wouldn't want him butting into her personal business, so he tried to go back to sleep.

It was now Friday evening, almost two days after Mari's late night phone call. Sohinki had made dinner for them and Mari had made it her goal to somehow tell him that she was meeting Peter the next day. She felt…nervous, strangely enough. Not about meeting Peter so much as just having to tell Sohinki that she was. She was worried that he'd think she was just crawling back to him after spending a week out of the house. She didn't want to come off as awkward or weird—she didn't even really understand why she needed to tell Sohinki at all, but felt like it'd be wrong to hide it.

After dinner that night, Mari and Sohinki relaxed together, watching some TV in the living room. Mari absentmindedly lay on the couch with her head resting in Sohinki's lap like a pillow. They sat there quietly until the episode ended and Mari sat up and sighed, scratching the back of her head awkwardly.

"Everything okay?" Sohinki asked, looking sleepy but happy. He'd had fun day with her, they'd gone into the office and got to shoot some bonus videos together. Overall, the more time he spent with her, the happier he was, so today had been a really good day.

"Yeah," Mari replied, stretching her arms out over her head. She then pulled her feet up onto the couch and sat with her legs crisscrossed. "I just kinda have to talk to you about something." He looked up at her, confused and curious, but he just shrugged and nodded.

"I'm all ears." He said, picking up the remote to lower the volume on the TV. She looked at him and sort of half smiled. He was always so easy going and relaxed with her, it made him so nice to talk to. She looked down and tucked her hair behind her ear, trying to think of what she was going to say.

"So…" She sighed heavily and looked up at him. "So I decided to finally be kinda mature and actually deal with my problems." She smiled, trying to make it somewhat humorous, but when he just looked confused she continued. "Basically, that means that I'm gonna meet up with Peter tomorrow for coffee." She opened her mouth to keep going but when a look of remembrance came across Sohinki's face she slowly closed it, confused. He looked completely unsurprised, only changing his expression after he noticed that she was staring at him. She continued to look at him, her eyebrows coming together in confusion. "Did you already know?" She asked slowly, not angrily or even awkwardly, just purely curious. Sohinki, scared that she'd be upset or hurt that he'd heard her the other night, had no idea what to do. He paused for a second before looking down apologetically.

"Yeah…I kinda heard you the other night on the phone…I didn't want to say anything because I didn't wanna butt in or invade your privacy…" he trailed off and looked up at her. "I'm sorry." He half-heartedly smiled at her, but she could tell that he really felt bad. She smiled at him, surprising him completely.

"Honestly, I'm glad you overheard." She stated, matter-of-factly, confusing him. "It makes telling you about it a lot easier." She laughed and he did too, a little.

"Well I'm glad. But I am sorry, I should've tried harder not to listen." He gave her a little half-hearted smile and she grinned and ruffled his hair.

"Hey, don't worry about it," she answered, feeling relieved. Normally she would not be cool at all with this type of situation. But something about it being Sohinki made the entire thing better. Maybe because she felt like she didn't want to hide anything from him.

"Can I do anything to help?" He asked, sincerely wanting to make things easier for her.

"I don't really think so. I'm really just planning on seeing him so I can officially break things off. You know, figure out the house situation. We've lived together for a few years in that house, so there's a lot to figure out." She looked up at him and laughed a little, "I can't hide out in your house forever, it's not fair to you or him." She leaned back into the couch, feeling very tired.

"I wouldn't mind it so much," Sohinki answered. He looked at her with a weird expression that she couldn't interpret. He looked really happy and warm and sweet and something like butterflies happened in her stomach…

"Oh, really?" She asked, smirking and sitting up. "Then I'm gonna go use all of your fancy shampoo." She got up from the couch and playfully jogged to the bathroom.

"Mari, no!" He ran after her, "not again!"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Maturity

Mari sat at one of the back corner tables of the café where she and Peter used to always grab breakfast. They had the best bagels around and their coffee was to die for. It was always their Sunday morning easygoing breakfast. But, today was going to be a very different and difficult experience for them and Mari had no clue how to prepare herself. Of course she'd had breakups before, and a lot of the time she'd been the person to break it off, but this time was different. They'd been together so long, she loved him deeply, and he was her best friend in the world… But it didn't feel right. Maybe she was being childish, but she needed everything to feel right for her to commit to anything serious like marriage. Hell, she was still practically a kid. She lives off of dancing, video gaming, and making inappropriate jokes. How could she be ready for something so serious?

She snapped out of her stream of thought when Peter walked in. She waved him over and he smiled at her, walking towards her. He looked like home to her. He was everything she'd ever wanted in someone, he was kind, caring, sweet, not to mention adorable and tall and he made her feel safe… But even though she could think of a million reasons why she_ should_ love him, why she _should_ marry him, why she shouldn't break up with him… She didn't actually feel any of it. She just knew that she should… And she wasn't going to build a life around "should's."

"Hi, Peter." Mari said, feeling a little nauseous, standing up to give him a quick hug.

"Hey, you." He replied, trying to seem happy and relaxed, but she could tell that he was nervous by the way his hands were shaking. She took a deep breath and they sat down. How the hell was she going to do this?

"So… I…" She tried to start, but nothing was coming. She looked at him and then down at the table, unable to find the words.

"Mari, I miss you so much…" He said it suddenly, like he couldn't keep it from coming out. He looked at her and she could see his heart breaking in his eyes, and she tried to swallow but a lump blocked her throat. She looked down and studied the wood grain of the table to keep from crying. After a minute or two, she relaxed and looked back up at him.

"Peter…" She began softly.

Mari had left around 9 am. Sohinki had tried to stay in and sleep late, but as she was getting ready to leave, he couldn't get himself to fall back asleep. He had walked out to the living room and said goodbye to her, wishing her luck. She insisted that she'd be back before lunch.

It was now around 2 pm and Sohinki was starting to worry a little bit. What if she's lost? What if she got in an accident? What if someone kidnapped her? He knew that his worrying was stupid and unnecessary but he couldn't help it. He had refrained from texting her in case she was still in the middle of talking to Peter. But once it reached 2:30, he figured one text couldn't hurt.

HEY MARI, HOPE EVERYTHING'S OKAY. LET ME KNOW WHEN YOU'RE HEADING BACK.

Now all he could do was wait. God, he hated waiting. Luckily, about thirty seconds later he felt his phone buzzing. He quickly got it out to look at it. It wasn't Mari. It was Lasercorn. He quickly picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hey Sohinki? It's Lasercorn."

"Hey, what's up? Haven't heard from you in a while."

"Well, I've got some news." Sohinki immediately remembered the whole Lasercorn situation. He felt really bad for forgetting, even if had been just for a little while. He knew he should've been a better friend and tried to help, or find out what was going on. Mari's situation had just distracted him since it had been so present in his home.

"What's going on?" He asked eagerly.

"So I know I made a big deal the other day and I was really secretive and it was dumb, so I'm sorry for that…It's just that…well, Brina's pregnant." Sohinki's jaw immediately dropped. He had assumed that it was bad news but woah, Lasercorn with a kid?

"Dude! Oh my god, congratulations! This is amazing!"

"Thanks, buddy. I didn't know what to do at first, I was sort of freaked out, you know?"

"Well, I'm freaked out because Brina will have to deal with you and a mini version of you too." Sohinki teased him, laughing.

"Hey, she signed up for it!"

"Hopefully they'll get your eyes."

"This kid's gonna have a badass laser stare, trust me."

They talked for a while, going back and forth and just joking around; it was great stress relief for Sohinki. He was so relieved to hear that it was good news all along. And even though Lasercorn's reaction may have been a little excessive, he knew that he wouldn't have reacted any better. They only got off the phone when Mari walked in. She looked very upset, and gray, she was even hunched over a little bit. He could tell that her conversation had not gone well.

"Oh, Lasercorn, sorry I've got to go. Talk to you Monday, alright? See ya." When Mari heard that it was Lasercorn she immediately perked up.

"Were you on the phone with Lasercorn? What's going on?"

"Calm down, it's good news. Really good news." He told her excitedly. Mari's eyes widened and she grinned, quickly coming over to sit on the couch.

"What is it?!"

"Get ready…. Brina's pregnant." Mari's jaw dropped and she let out a little squeal.

"Oh my god! OH my god. Oh my GOD, Lasercorn with a kid? This is insane, oh my god. This can't be real, this kid's going to be insane!" Mari collapsed into the couch, grinning widely. "This is so great."

"I know, right? I'm so excited for him." Sohinki leaned back and without thinking he put his arm around Mari. "I told him that I hope they get his eyes." Mari laughed loudly, resting her head on his shoulder.

"That kid's laser stare is going to be ridiculous." They both dissolved into laughter, making jokes for a solid five minutes. It was the happiest Mari had felt all day. And suddenly, the rest of the day came rushing back to her mind and she got tired again. Sohinki noticed that Mari suddenly seemed to deflate a little and he also remembered where she had been all day.

"Oh…Mari…" he said, unsure of what to say. "How were things today?" He knew that that was a horrible start, but he couldn't find any other words.

"Well," she said, letting out a huge sigh. "Honestly? Kind of horrible. But not as bad as I had expected."

"What happened?" Sohinki looked at her, really concerned. Mari wouldn't meet his gaze; she just looked down at her hands, worried that she'd start to cry. But she just swallowed the tears and managed to tell him.

"Well we met at the café…and we talked and…I ended it. And it was messy and not good…" She took a deep breath, her eyes tearing up. "And he kept begging me to try to make it work, telling me he loved me, saying we could slow things down, just go back to normal…" She paused and looked at Sohinki, tears starting to pour out and her voice breaking. "And I just kept thinking about how I should just take him back, I should just love him, I should do this or that because it's right…But I can't do that, Sohinki…I'm so confused…" She started to cry, letting sobs out. Sohinki pulled her close and gently stroked the back of her hair. She sobbed into his chest, her body shaking.

"Shh…it's okay, Mari. It's going to be okay, I promise you." He whispered to her. It killed him to see her so upset; he wished he could make it better. He'd do anything to keep her from being hurt. They stayed like that for while, Mari gasping and crying, and Sohinki doing whatever he could to try to comfort her. Eventually Mari cried herself out and sat up, feeling numb. Sohinki got up to make her some tea and he got her a bowl of ice cream. He brought it back to her and she thanked him, feeling empty. They laid on the couch together until it was late. Around 1 am, Sohinki knew that they should turn in, and that Mari needed a good night's sleep.

"Hey, Mari?" He said, gently rubbing her back.

"Yeah?" She murmured quietly.

"We should go to bed. I'll sleep on the couch and you go sleep in my bed." He started to get up but she shook her head.

"Please can you come to the bed too? I sleep so much better with you there…" She looked at him pleadingly. He knew that it was a bad idea, it just felt very wrong to him. Like he would be violating some moral code. But if it made her feel better, he couldn't say no.

"Okay, but…" She looked at him and he couldn't even try to object. "Okay. Let's go."

They climbed into his bed and almost immediately both fell asleep. They woke up to a lazy Sunday morning around 10 am. The birds were chirping and the sun was shining through the windows, illuminating Mari. Sohinki found himself staring at her. She was beautiful laying there, she was always beautiful. Eventually she woke up too and they stayed there, silent for a while, until Sohinki's stomach growled. He looked at her and they both laughed.

"Chocolate chip pancakes?" He asked, getting up to go make them.

"I could get used to this." She said, grinning at him, and getting up to follow him into the kitchen.


End file.
